Multiphase flow characteristics and gas loss in the shear layer on a ventilated supercavity wall

Abstract

The shear flow on the large-scale gas–water wall inside a ventilated supercavity exhibits gas entrainment mode and determines the change law of the supercavity's gas loss, significantly impacting the shape and dynamics of the supercavity. Therefore, to develop an accurate prediction model and a ventilation control method for a supercavity under complex motion conditions, it is required to systematically and quantitatively study the shear flow characteristics and rules. This study calculates and comparatively analyzes the shear layers on either side of the supercavity wall based on numerical simulations of ventilated supercavitating flows in an unbounded field using the gas–vapor–water multi-fluid model. It is shown that the external shear layer with a very irregular outer boundary is considerably thinner than the internal shear layer. We further analyze the flow and distribution characteristics of all the phases in the shear layers with and without the influence of gravity. Our analysis confirms that all the phases exhibit a similar velocity change rule along the supercavity radial direction in the shear layer, whereas gas and water phases exhibit opposite radial phase distribution trends. It was also seen when natural cavitation occurs that the vapor phase is mainly distributed in the head of the supercavity. Moreover, at the same radial position, it was seen that the vapor velocity was higher than the gas velocity and slightly lower than the water velocity. Using the shear flow and phase distribution characteristics, a shear-layer gas loss model is established and validated for ventilated supercavitating flows.